Govt begins distributing food handouts
TANATSWA KANDENGA/TENDAIISHE NYAMUKUNDA
Government has started distributing food handouts to areas badly impacted by the El Nino-induced drought, Business Times can report.
Over 60% of the population requires food handouts, according to the results of the Household-based Village-co-ordinated Rapid Vulnerability Assessment and the Urban Food and Nutrition Council assessment.
The latest development was revealed by the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Dr Anxious Masuka at a post Cabinet media briefing in the capital Harare.
“The distribution has started and the Minister of Public Service ,Labour and Social Welfare highlighted to Cabinet today (Tuesday) that distribution of food handout has been going on around the country. So, the movement is in two parts. It is movement from surplus areas; GMB to GMB and then from the GMB to the mid rural areas,” Dr Masuka said.
Masuka stated that the government would understand the severity of the drought through the second round Crops and Livestock Assessment Report.
According to him, the report will provide the country with estimates of Zimbabwe’s agricultural output for the 2023–2024 season.
Dr. Jenfan Muswere, Minister of Information, Broadcasting, and Publicity, also said government has also implemented measures and initiatives to address the negative impacts of El Nino-induced drought.
He said:“Following this devastating 2023/2024 summer season El Nino-induced drought, H.E. the President(Emmerson Mnangagwa) declared a National State of Disaster on the 3rd of April, 2024, covering an indicative resource requirement of US$2bn for mitigation and US$717m for resilience building.
“Zimbabwe should, therefore, emerge from this drought stronger and better able to withstand future climate-induced shocks.
“To this end, the country has initiated interventions focused on mitigation and resilience-building classified into five pillars namely cereals, horticulture, livestock, fisheries and water and irrigation,
“Generally the resilience-building plan entails 100% agro-ecological matching of crops together with 100% adoption of Pfumvudza/Intwasa with supplementing irrigation where possible at critical stages by all households; and capacitation of institutions, workers and farmers.”
He added :”Regarding contingency mitigation measures for cereals, the Government will import 300 000 metric tonnes of maize, while grain movement from areas with surplus to areas with deficit will be facilitated by the GMB .
“This in addition to the wheat-based food security strategy which will contribute over 500 000 metric tonnes to the strategic grain reserve contributing to the maximum social welfare requirements of 780 000 metric tonnes. Pertaining to horticulture, the focus will be on the development of the 10 000 Village Business Units across all provinces,
“To this end, drilling rigs have been re-distributed according to the number of villages by province. To date, 1 329 128 of the 3.5m vegetable packs have been distributed, 1 294 000 sweet potato virus-free elite vines have been distributed to 72 520 farmers and 229 of the targeted 10 000 Village Business Units established.”
